GM: Vue-Based Buick SUV Has Been Canceled

General Motors announced earlier today that the Buick compact sport-utility, which the company announced and revealed just two weeks ago, has been canceled. The model was to be a near identical clone of the current Saturn Vue. It was generally panned by a select group of news media and bloggers who were given a sneak peak of the vehicle at a GM event in Detroit earlier this month (see teaser photo above). One reporter even went as far as dubbing the Saturn crossover with a Buick-inspired waterfall grill as the new "Vue-ick."

The cancellation also impacts the near-term availability of the company's innovative 2-Mode Hybrid powertrain. GM says the 2-Mode Hybrid will be utilized in another compact SUV in the future. In fact, the company says its plug-in hybrid variant remains on schedule, and will debut in the aforementioned unannounced sport-ute.

Read the official announcement below from GM's Fastlane blog:

The Buick crossover we showed received consistent feedback from large parts of all the audiences that it didn't fit the premium characteristics that customers have come to expect from Buick. You may recall that this was the Buick compact crossover I announced in Traverse City a few weeks ago, with a plug-in hybrid version to accompany it — this is not the smaller Buick crossover we showed that was playfully referred to as "the baby Enclave." That vehicle did very well and remains in the lineup. We were all struck by the consistency of the criticism of the compact crossover. And what we decided to do in response is a good example of the essence of the new General Motors... acting quickly, and boldly, and listening to feedback from customers, employees, dealers, media and just about anyone else with an opinion. Last Friday, reaction to the Buick crossover was discussed at the meeting of our Executive Committee, the newly formed group that steers product decisions, and it was decided that if it didn't belong, it didn't belong. Buick crossover canceled. Fritz Henderson, Bob Lutz and I and the rest of the committee decided to take swift action to prevent a potential underperformer from reaching the marketplace. And we decided that the important plug-in hybrid technology would be applied to another vehicle, at no delay, that we'll discuss in the very near future.

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